


Loss

by xRamona



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Character Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 04:36:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12005154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xRamona/pseuds/xRamona
Summary: And with that, he was gone, returning to his hiding place to sit with a corpse and contemplate his one major failure in comparison with endless success.





	Loss

**Author's Note:**

> im just dumb and like being sad

Morty was busy fiddling on his computer, casually pressing through his essay and browsing sites absolutely  _ not in any way _ dedicated to porn, the sounds from the keyboard the only noticeable noise within his bedroom for a time. Said time was interrupted by the familiar noise of the portal gun having dished out a doorway to another place, a sound that made his anxiety spike and his throat momentarily go dry.

Rick stepped out as expected but the questions resting on the tip of Morty’s tongue turned bitter when he clocked the blotchy, red stains littering his grandfather's usually stark white coat, the hems along the wrists battered, and cuts making their home on his face.

His readied ‘what the hell’ regarding the sudden and unexpected intrusion  _ \- not that such a thing was unusual because Rick had never exactly had a clear understanding of the privacy of others. That, or he simply didn’t give a fuck, and Morty was leaning towards the latter, -  _ morphed into several raised concerns each fighting to be spoken first.

He stumbled from the bed in the ungraceful way normally expected of him, feet having troubling finding their way steadily to the ground, finding his balance and resisting the urge to rush towards the old man and express his deep concern. That was usually just met with a snarky remark and with a chemistry test the next day and an essay due to be submitted within the next twelve hours, the teenager wasn’t particularly in the mood to deal with all that.

“Rick?! W-What are you doing?”

Having your grandfather open a portal into your room in the dead of night _ (a school night at that, Morty thought bitterly) _  was unexpected to say the least. To see him in a battered and bloodied state was even more unexpected. But beyond that? Rick actually  _ embracing _ him of his own full accord. 

Thin arms slipped forward around his shoulders and brought him closer, pressing his face into the soft blue fabric of his grandfather's shirt. Morty decidedly ignored the rougher, darker patches dotted along that he was sure had to be blood, all things considered, because he didn’t really need any of that nightmare fuel at that specific moment in time. He didn’t need any of it ever, actually, but he got plenty more than his fair share.

Rick was breathing shakily, small puffs and missed breaths, and Morty could feel his heartbeat hammering against his chest. He moved to pull back, wanting to get some answers, but the older man simply tightened his hold and Morty took that as a no. Instead, he resigned himself to what would end up a scrambled mutter against the fabric and unlikely to be heard.

“What happened? W-Where did y-you go?”

His own heartbeat had picked up and Morty refused to attribute it to the proximity, instead deciding it  _ must _ have been from his nerves spiking up. Maybe on his deathbed he would admit it was a mixture of both, but his deathbed was likely to be in some weird alien place and it was doubtful that he would ever either way. 

“Doesn’t m-matter,” Rick replied in a mumble, pressing his grandson impossibly closer. 

Morty heard a shout from somewhere in the house, vaguely thinking it was his mother questioning the noise of him stumbling from bed, but found his attention drawn away from that entirely in favor of Rick’s words.

“Doesn’t matter?! Y-You’re covered in blood, Rick! L-Let’s go to the gar-”

“D-Don’t bother, M-Morty. Drop it.”

Questions circled inside his head, ramming into the front of his skull, it seemed, in an effort to be noticed and to be asked. He hadn’t gotten an answer thus far, but he was entirely used to dismissive answers from Rick. It was the man's specialty half the time.

“No! Tell me w-what happened!”

Rick finally pulled back, his hands first resting on Morty’s shoulders as he distanced himself from the boy. Morty locked eyes and found the heavy bags settled there beneath Rick’s suddenly more worrying than they had been ever before, his eyes glossed over and pained, his face weathered seemingly out of nowhere. It was like ten years had passed for the man since they had said goodnight but only a couple of hours before. The questions pounded more intensely.

“R-Rick?” He asked, the name feeling weak as it fell from his lips, Morty missing the light weight across his shoulders the moment it was gone. The scientist had broken touch between them as though Morty had burst into flames, and the boy was acutely aware of the unwelcome pang that caused his heart to make.

His grandfather cast a single look back and stepped through the portal again, Morty’s questions all dying before they could ever tumble from his mouth.

What the fuck had just happened?

He had just began to turn on his heel, determined to go find Rick and force the answers out of him in some way, when his door was slammed open and his mother stepped through with a baseball bat, wielding it in an unsure but determined manor. Yeah, okay, in all that had happened that night it was probably the most normal.

Rick appeared behind her, disheveled from what Morty recognized as a fitful sleep after spending so many years together, wildly brandishing his own choice weapon. But this Rick was all wrong. It was his own, surely, considering the man looked exactly the same as he had the handful of hours beforehand before they all went to their rooms and had most definitely come from downstairs to his supposed  _ (and mostly unneeded)  _ aid.

His face was not scratched and bruised and not a single stain from blood to be found on his person. His face scrunched up in confusion as the two adults began questioning his safety.

He groaned, knowing he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight with all the questions floating around his thoughts, and decided he would aim for simply a passing grade on his test.

* * *

Rick slipped undetected into the little cave he’d found a few minutes after the battle had ensued, finding his way back to his own Morty. Brown hair matted with blood, dirt and bruises covering most of his skin, and an arrow shot an inch or so above his heart. It hadn’t been the arrow that had killed the boy, instead it had been the poison laced in the tip.

It was easy to forget his own enemies usually ended up being Morty’s enemies, too. Easy to forget the boy was more often than not an easy target. Easy to forget that his own Morty was just as capable of dying as anybody else. Hell, probably more so when he really thought about it. 

He rested his hand on the dirty, tangled mess of hair and sighed deeply, letting his own head fall back against the wall as he thought. The first few hours after Morty had died  _ - _ _ died _ _ , the word made him want to build a bomb to take out the entire world or puke or maybe both- _ he had been endlessly trying to find a way around it, trying to figure out to fix his mistake. Once he had finally accepted as much as he could that it was impossible, he’d found trouble saying goodbye to a corpse. 

It was weird to think of his Morty as a corpse.

So he’d fired up a portal, trying to block out the stinging thought that if he had done that earlier instead of letting his pride get in the way then he wouldn’t be doing this at all. He’d just surprise a Morty in an effort to find closure. It wouldn’t matter which when his own was already gone.

Not his Morty, he thought, which made this goodbye feel somewhat false. Entirely false, really, but he would take it nonetheless. He was the smartest man in the universe and knew it was as close as he would get. With his arms around the boy and his thoughts buzzing to block out the questions and concerns, it almost felt like the day before, when his Morty had been warm and alive and, well, _ his. _

But it was only when he pulled back that the realization hit him again, just as painful as the very first time. He’d pulled back quickly, knowing he would need to leave shortly after hearing Not-His-Beth yelling a minute before. This Morty’s Rick was sure to come if anything seemed suspicious, just as he would have, though neither of the men would even admit such a thing. Not until their dying breath and even then is was highly unlikely. His own would be soon, though, so Rick would find out soon enough how willingly one of him would admit to caring for the boy when their body was failing.

He left, looking back just once to settle the ill feeling coursing through his entire body.

And with that, he was gone, returning to his hiding place to sit with a corpse and contemplate his one major failure in comparison with endless success.

He fumbled around before his fingers finally clasped around the handle of the abandoned weapon. Maybe enough energy for a blast or two left, and it was easy to know that was all he would need. A single use, his goodbyes somewhat made, and this world gone for all he knew.

He figured this was some sort of sick comeuppance. Morty paying for his mistakes as usual.

And as usual for that, Rick would fix those mistakes.

* * *

If a blast goes off on an alien planet and nobody is around to hear it, does the body still make a noise when it drops?

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos feed my ego and make my heart flutter ngl


End file.
